1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to ink jet printers, and, more particularly, to a method of altering an effective print resolution of an ink jet printer.
2. Description of the Related Art
An ink jet printer includes a carrier which moves in scan directions across an image area overlying a print medium. The carrier carries a printhead having a plurality of ink jetting orifices. Electronic control circuitry activates ink jetting heaters within the printhead to selectively jet ink drops from the ink jetting orifices as the printhead is scanned across the image area. The ink drops are placed at selected pixel locations in rows or scan lines of the image area. The print medium moves in an advance direction between scans a predetermined amount. In a multi-pass operation, multiple ink jetting orifices overly a given scan line for placing ink drops at selected pixel locations. In the case of color printing, multiple printheads are typically used, with each printhead being associated with a primary color ink. Depending upon the combination of different color inks which are placed at a given pixel location, different colors are produced.
The print resolution of a printed document is an important print quality parameter. In general, the image area is divided into a two dimensional array of rows and columns of pixels. The pixels usually have a common spacing in a vertical as well as horizontal direction. For example, the pixels may have a center to center spacing of 600 dots per inch (dpi) or 1200 dpi. A higher print resolution usually is preferred from a quality standpoint.
The print resolution to some extent is governed by electrical and mechanical constraints associated with a particular printer. For example, the ink jetting heaters within a printhead have thermal response times associated with activating and deactivating the heater. Further, the electronic circuitry is only capable of handling a predetermined number of instructions per duty cycle.
What is needed in the art is a method of altering (e.g., increasing) the print resolution of an ink jet printer using existing printer architecture or not significantly altering the architecture.